30 October 2026
The cold side
Tokyo to Niigata on the bullet train
Now I am Niigata, on the other side of Japan, facing North Korea and Siberia. Generally it is expected to be colder here, and less likely to be destroyed by a tsunami, less likely, but never unlikely.
Getting here was relatively painless, in fact I have a top tip. If you are going anywhere on the Shinkansen north of Tokyo, leave via Ueno rather than Tokyo station. It is very relaxing with almost no other people, plenty of places to sit, no punch ups, no people with bull horn speakers, all because no one is going to Kyoto from Ueno.
Anyway, now that I am here, it is grey, my hotel is near the station, and it is possibly the largest hotel room I have ever had in Japan.
Inside the JR lines gates but before the Shinkansen gates in Ueno station has a lot of shops and restaurants, and no people. Very relaxing.
There is always the possibility of more Ramen.
The departure waiting area. Almost no other people! Today for the first time I took a bullet train with the ticket linked to my IC card, very convenient, no more picking up tickets or QR codes. There will be a rant about this later in the trip.
The inside of the train is, a train. I had a spare seat next to me. Total time to Niigata was just under 2 hours.
I had just over an hour to kill before I could check into my hotel, so I waited for everyone to leave so I could take a photo of the sides of trains, fascinating.
View from Niigata station. Time for a late lunch to kill time.
Behold my lunch, from Delifrance. Chosen because they had seating.
Now for my huge hotel room, which is an APA, and about $100 a night. I thought it was a Dormy Inn, but my next few cities are Dormy Inn's, however I suspect this APA is nicer. Hard to photograph due to angles but here is the bed.
And allllll the way over there is my desk.
Standard bathroom.
I even have an opening window. Photo from said window. That is enough hotel photos for now.